


Weakness

by nate_heywood



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Kissing, M/M, Other, Sparring, Steelatom - Freeform, Waverider - Freeform, don’t mind them, just some nerds in love, pining ray, time bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 11:05:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19208107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nate_heywood/pseuds/nate_heywood
Summary: In which Ray simply wants to find out Nate Heywood’s weakness. It turns out to be his lucky day when the two start sparring on an empty ship.





	Weakness

Ray grabbed a screwdriver, carefully using it to pry open a panel on his ATOM suit. He had learned long ago how to keep his hands stable enough to perform repairs on the suit. After all, any sudden twitch could be deadly when dealing with dwarf star alloy. To do this, although Ray loved being social, he often closed the door to his lab and tuned out any noises. It was almost like some odd kind of scientific meditation.

He was fairly successful at this, until a loud clanging noise snapped him out of his focus. He threw the screwdriver into the air on instinct, listening as it clattered behind him. Ray spun around, fists raised in an attempt to fight any intruder who had snuck onto the Waverider. Yet, after going through all that effort, the only intruder he saw was his best friend.

"Woah, Ray, buddy," Nate put his hands up. "It's just me. Don't shoot...well, don't shoot yet."

Nate bent down to grab the screwdriver that had landed next to his foot, tossing it to Ray gently. Although his coordination was usually poor, he caught it, putting it back on the table with a smile.

"How'd you make such a loud noise?" Ray asked. "Not that I want to punch you or anything, but one more step and I probably would've. I'm glad to see you out of the library, though." 

"Well," he cleared his throat. "I kinda ran into a table."

"A table?" Ray raises his eyebrows incredulously. "Are you okay? I mean, last time I ran into one of these tables, it didn't make even close to that noise"

"It does when your entire skin is made out of steel."

"Why did you steel up in the first place, bro? Unless..." Ray asked. "Are you planning something?"

Nate grinned, his eyes lighting up as he looked directly at Ray. He would be lying if he didn't find it adorable every time his friend did that. While Nate usually adopted that kind of expression when talking about history, Ray certainly wasn't opposed to it in any situation. He matched it with a smile of his own, which almost came naturally to him given how much it lit up his face. 

"Well, a little birdie told me that Sara is off the ship," Nate replied. 

"Yeah, I heard she's going on a date with Ava, but why do you mention it? Did something exciting happen while she was gone? Does Captain Palmer need to fill her shoes?" Ray tried not to let his eagerness slip into his voice, but he guessed he was entirely unsuccessful.

"Not exactly that, but something better," Nate hinted. "What would be the one thing that Sara would never ever want us to do when she's gone?"

"Uh, run through the hallways with George Lucas in Star Wars costumes and ransack her room?" Ray ventured. 

"Where did you even get that from?" after Ray simply shrugged it off with another smile, Nate continued. "Try again. It's something we've done before. 

He racked his brain for what Nate could possibly be referring to. Sure, there were plenty of things he had always imagined doing with Nate that Sara wouldn't exactly approve of seeing, but he didn't want to slip up and accidentally say one of them out loud. 

He looked up into Nate's eyes, seeing if he could gather anything. While he simply spent most of his time getting lost in them, he did manage to come up with an idea. 

"You want to spar again in the cargo bay?" Ray guessed.

Nate snapped his fingers, pointing at Ray, "Bingo. But we have to hurry before Sara comes back and busts us."

"Promise I won't have to jump out into the temporal zone and find you in Japan again?" Ray asked, still not dropping his smile. 

"Well, I feel like we're closer now," Nate said. "And even though a little bit of healthy competition is good, I think we learned our lesson. I'd never try to hurt you. You know that right?"

Ray was certain that at that moment he felt his heart melting, "Yeah, I know that."

Nate nodded a bit, before opening his arms and wrapping Ray into a hug. They stayed in place a few seconds, with Ray resting his head on the other man's shoulder. With threats of time travel, his mind was rarely clear, but he found that when he was near Nate, he could hardly think about anything else. He doubted the other man could ever feel the same way, though, so he simply pressed down those feelings and told himself he was staying happy for the sake of the team. Yet, deep down, he knew it was mostly a coverup. 

Wordlessly, the two started walking to the cargo bay. Ray liked to think that they had such a close bond, they didn't even need words to express how they were feeling. He could usually tell what was up with Nate from nothing more than a small frown, and Nate had easily done the same time and time again. Ray simply kept wondering if that meant they were just close friends or something more. 

Similar thoughts consumed him until they reached the cargo bay. He plopped down onto one of the boxes, pulling the ATOM suit out of his pocket. While Nate could simply turn on his powers at will, Ray had to spend the time actually suiting up. After a few moments, Ray walked forward, making final adjustments on his suit. He glanced over at Nate. 

"So I was thinking back to Japan," Ray started. 

Without warning, he fired an energy blast toward Nate. Although his steel protected him from any serious injury, the blast still launched him onto the ground. Nate planted his hands on either side of him to stop him from skidding before pressing himself up. 

"What about it?"

Nate retorted by striking Ray in the chest, causing him to stagger back slightly. He considered not continuing with his words but figured why not at least take the chance. 

"Remember how I taught you exactly how to destroy the ATOM suit?" Nate nodded, wincing slightly at the memory. "Well, I was thinking you could tell me your weakness. In case you ever...turn evil or something."

Ray hoped his explanation would suffice as he knew that he was a terrible liar. He wasn't quite sure what motivated him to ask that question, but it certainly wasn't the fear that Nate would switch to the dark side. 

"Well, why don't you find out?" Nate challenged, a playful smirk lighting up his face. 

Ray smiled a bit in response, firing another blast to see if somehow the solution was that simple. This time, Nate seemed to expect it, stepping out of the way. Although it skimmed his torso, it only made him stagger back a couple inches. 

"So I see that's not working," Ray murmured under his breath.

It was mostly as a mental note to himself, but he was interested in seeing if he got some kind of reaction from Nate. Lost in his thought, he hardly noticed the other man charging at him. He managed to duck, narrowly avoiding the punch coming at his head. He shoved Nate backward, knocking the wind out of him. While Nate struggled to catch his breath, Ray began to walk forward, causing the Nate to put his hands up and back toward the wall. He noticed that Nate was just stalling until he recovered, but he figured the situation could work in his advantage.

Eventually, Nate had himself backed against a wall, but he wasn't exactly helpless. Given that his skin was still steel, Ray doubted that he could actually do significant damage, especially now that he had caught his breath. When Nate aimed a punch at him, he found that his actions were more guided by his heart than his brain. 

He surged forward, pressing Nate up against the wall. Although Ray was slightly taller, the two were pressed so close together could see every small detail on Nate's face, even the blush he seemed to be desperately trying to hide. While Nate was normally confident, that seemed to falter in the face of this new development. His skin changed back to normal, face full of confusion. 

"Ray, uh...what are you doing?"

Instead of verbally answering him, he instead connected his lips with Nate's. For a moment, he tensed up and didn't return the kiss, causing Ray to almost stop. Making Nate uncomfortable was the one thing he certainly didn't want to do. However, moments before he could stop, Nate began to kiss him back, starting hesitantly but soon melting into it. Perhaps it was cliche, but for Ray, everything suddenly felt right. The more they moved in harmony, the more they became like two pieces of a puzzle. 

Ray grabbed the back of Nate's head, spinning him around. As he did, Nate drapped his arms on the back of Ray's shoulder's, pulling him closer. Although Ray would have loved to stay in that moment forever, as usual, he had a plan. While continuing the kiss, he slowly began to move his hand down Nate's waist, moving toward his chest. 

He shot a gentle blast from his hand into Nate's chest, causing him to fall backward onto the floor. Ray doubted he fell from anything more than shock, though, as he had adjusted the intensity so that it could hardly harm a fly. Still, Nate panted heavily, likely from a combination of the fight, the kiss, and the fall. Or perhaps he just wanted Ray to see how attractive he looked out of breath. He figured he would never know.

Eventually, Nate managed to catch his breath, sitting up. He looked directly at Ray, and he swore those eyes could see right into his soul.

"I guess my weakness is you," Nate chuckled. 

For a moment, it was as if Ray's whole world stopped, turning him into the breathless one. However, a voice snapped him out of his thoughts and into reality. 

"How about a round two?" Nate asked. 

"Of fighting? I mean, I guess that's fine if that's what you really want, but I thought we were kinda done with that."

"You know, for a scientist, you really are an idiot. Except you're an adorable idiot, so I'm going to show you exactly what I meant. It's not the kind of fighting you were thinking of."

Nate pushed himself off the ground, pinning Ray against a wall just as he had done a few seconds ago. 

"You get it now?"

"Yeah, I'm 99% sure I do," Ray replied. 

"Well, how about we make that 100?" 

With that, Nate pulled Ray into a passionate kiss, and for once, he felt like his life was complete. Sure, Nate Heywood was also his weakness, but that was just the way he liked it.


End file.
